Do special election results spell doom for Republicans in 2026?

Special election results have anticipated recent midterm outcomes. With Democrats now overperforming, that could spell trouble for the GOP in 2026.

By: Charlie Hunt, Boise State University, The Conversation

Outlets: The Conversation

Published: February 13, 2026

Words: 1,284

Last Updated: 1 month ago

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By Charlie Hunt, Boise State University

On Feb. 7, 2026, Chasity Verret Martinez won a special election to fill a vacant seat in the Louisiana House. That’s an outcome that might not mean very much to people outside of the state or even outside her Baton Rouge-area district.

But Martinez is a Democrat who took 62% of the vote in a district that had given Donald Trump a 13-percentage-point victory in the 2024 presidential …

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